Early estimates from the sports governing body predicted the 39-day tournament would bring more than five million international tourists to the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with approximately 1.2 million of them coming to the U.S.
But with the start of the tournament coming up, FIFA is increasingly canceling entire blocks of hotel rooms booked many months ago for its officials, staff, and team members.
It canceled, according to reports from different cities, approximately 2,000 rooms in Philadelphia, 800 rooms in Mexico City, and as many as 15,000 rooms in Vancouver. Cities including Boston and Toronto have also been seeing high rates of cancellations.
"The volume released is higher than typically expected": Hotel association on World Cup
While FIFA has not elaborated on the reasons for the cancellations, Greater Toronto Hotel Association President Sara Anghel told Canadian outlet Globe and Mail that the room reversals are "becoming a pattern across North American cities."
"In this case, however, the volume released is higher than typically expected," British Columbia Hotel Association President Paul Hawes also said. "It appears consistent with what is being seen in other host cities across North America."
Others in the industry have pointed out that overbooking and canceling rooms is standard practice when organizing events as large as the World Cup, since exact number of attendees who will travel becomes clearer as the actual date nears.
"While we were not excited about that, it's not the end of the world either," Philadelphia Hotel Association President Ed Grose said to The Independent. "These are rooms that are going to be put back out on the marketplace and sold to fans who want to come to Philadelphia."
This is why fewer tourists are coming for the World Cup than expected
The World Cup traditionally brings in super-fans who follow their country's team throughout its matches.
But this year, the number of tourist dollars brought into the U.S. is expected to take a hit from the travel restrictions that the Trump administration put on dozens of countries.
A full travel ban is currently in place for 19 nations. In addition, fans from a list of what was recently expanded to 50 countries now have to pay a $15,000 bond to apply for a tourist visa to enter the U.S.
Many other tourists have expressed concern about the current administration's anti-immigration focus and said the fear of getting caught up, even as legal tourists, is giving them pause. Travel costs, which are climbing due to inflation, do not help, either.
"Compared to other World Cups, I'm a bit more concerned about how the hostility and the surroundings will affect things," Thiago Pessao, a Brazilian national who has been watching the World Cup since he was a child and spent more than $40,000 booking trips to locations where the games were held last time, told Deutsche Welle.
"I think that the presence of ICE in the stadiums or in the cities will bring the atmosphere down."
Veronika Bondarenko
